Anyone who visited Otunba Gbenga Daniel at the EFCC Centre in Lagos last week, will attest to the fact that he was in high spirits.His light heatedness was consequent on a firm belief that God will not allow his good to be evil spoken of. The Bible warns us all that we should not allow our good to be evil spoken of ' Romans 14 vs. 16. It means that God is aware that your good intentions and good actions can be turned into evil by men. There is no action of men that cannot be misconstrued or deliberately misinterpreted for mischief or personal war and vendetta. That was OGD's chief concern when I met him last Thursday. His concern was not about the outcome of his trial; that is a matter of law. If he is acquitted, the sarcasm in the land about EFCC trials and the predictable outcomes will not remove the evil perception of his person planted in the minds of people by those who seek to speak evil of his good while in office. If he is convicted, the schemers of evil will shout justification for their schemes against him. But his abiding faith in God as the ultimate redeemer, who justifies where a multitude stand against a man, assures him that all will be well. Kudos to Justice Olanrewaju Mabekoje who warned the EFCC against a media trial. The EFCC had gleefully announced it was going to bring charges against Daniel for stealing N58 billion. When charges were filed in court, the total monetary involvement in all charges was less than N5 billion. Was the N58 billion announcement made to increase public consternation against OGD' Somebody must have imagined how people will quickly calculate the numerous public facilities that N58 billion can procure. That is setting up the public against the man. That is unfair and ungodly. In doing its job, the EFCC must not seek to play up to the public gallery. In matters affecting the reputation and integrity of people, high or low, it must be seen to be fair to all concerned. The agency must not leave the impression that it is acting in concert with certain political interests that want to disgrace OGD by all means. Even if it is in concert with them, it should be smart enough to paint it in less obvious colours. On the first day of hearing at Abeokuta, some persons procured a group of young men to come around the court premises to boo OGD. They were brought in two buses packed some distance away from the court. They claimed to be students but could not mention any institutions from which they came. They did not appear to be sufficiently schooled to be students of any institution of higher learning in spite of the banners they carried. The grapevine is awash with news that they were induced with N5 million. I hope the EFCC will take investigative notice of that so that it can investigate the use of public funds by those concerned. In a few days of this EFCC matter, it is beginning to appear that the interests behind this matter are more interested in disgracing and ridiculing OGD than in the processes of court. The manner in which the media has been procured to mischievously report the arrest and court arraignment is disgraceful to the journalism profession. Judicial matters are expected to be thoroughly and carefully reported so that injury is not done to any parties in the matter. A misreported word, a slight twist for sensationalism might lead the public to misleading conclusions. The Punch newspaper yesterday screamed in banner, 'Court warns Daniel against killer squad'. That was a mischievous reportage of the ruling of the judge on OGD's bail. By the report in the Punch itself, the judge said 'he would revoke the bail if there was proven evidence of the accused person trying to interfere with the prosecution witnesses or linking him to any attempt on their lives or those of members of their families'. The Punch irresponsibly smuggled the words 'killer squad' into its headline; a reminder of the prejudices of the last two years of OGD in government, which nobody has been able to affirm in any way.Channels Television on Wednesday 12 October, ran a news banner for many hours saying 'Daniel faces justice'. Is that illiteracy or mischief' Justice is used in that sense for someone who has been adjudged guilty of crime and has evaded punishment for some time. For goodness sake the man has only been accused of offences; the trial has not even started. Where then is the justice that he is facing. Justice is not the same thing as trial. I cannot believe that the news editors at Channels are that illiterate. Many newspaper reports and Channels television, yesterday referred to the Managing Director of 21st Century Technologies Limited, arrested by the EFCC as Daniel's associate. What has happened to investigative journalism' If these media men had cared to find out, they would have found out that Ajisebutu is a close associate of Chief Segun Osoba, former governor of Ogun state. I am in fact told that Osoba is the Chairman of that company. That makes Daniel a most unlikely associate of Ajisebutu in the manner portrayed by the media. Someone is trying to create an impression that OGD's friends are being picked up for involvement in this matter to further nail his guilty in the court of public opinion. Politicians can play whatever games they desire but it is most unfortunate that journalists are allowing them to use them to validate lies and half truths. As human beings, journalists have the right of political sympathy but the sacredness of truth to the best of the knowledge of the journalist must always be the guiding principle of media practice.
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